Enterprise social media: an investigation into the driving factors and the extent of use of the social media technology, Workplace by Facebook, in a large technology organisation

The phenomenon of social media has taken hold in the 21st century, as people move their social networks online, expanding and enhancing them. Social media has also extended to the organisation and co-workers ‘connect’ using social media software. In recent years, social media technologies have also been used to support communications and collaboration between co-workers within organisations. This study examines the use of one such technology, Workplace by Facebook, which replicates the operation and function of Facebook for work-related rather than purely social, purposes. Using survey data from employees, the Workplace application data, and semi-structured interviews, this thesis explores the extent of its use among staff in a large technology organisation and analyses what has driven that use. This study argues that the organisation’s use of social media has the same factors of use and drivers as other organisational technologies. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003) is employed, and a survey was conducted based on that model. Further insights were gained from data collected in ten semi-structured interviews. The study finds that the predictors derived from the UTAUT relate closely to the use of social media by the individuals in the organisation. The study therefore suggests that social media use in the workplace has similar drivers to those of traditional enterprise technology. In addition, findings suggest additional factors influence the use of enterprise social media, particularly factors based on external rather than internal social influence. This is a new and different aspect of organisational social media use compared to traditional enterprise technologies.